This is the first article in a four-part series about full-time RV living: Getting started | Lifestyle choices | On the road | Final preparations

When you think it may be time to investigate the full-time RV lifestyle, lots of things need to be considered.

Are you currently full-time RV planning? It is best to plan ahead and develop a calendar of events for the things that need to get done. The timing will be different for everyone, but most of the steps will be the same. If you fail to plan, you might be planning to fail.

When Pam and I started to think about retirement, we knew full-time RV living was something we would want to do. Years before actually buying the RV and embracing the lifestyle, we rented RVs. We tried everything that was rent-able, and we discovered what we liked and what we did not like.

That idea is just one of the steps you should take before setting out on your journey.

The first plan we made was to enjoy our careers, take RV vacations and get ideas from others on the RV lifestyle. We did that for years. We started looking at RVs back in the mid-'80s, and that's when our plan started. As the years went by, our plan kept changing. We still kept the plan, but we just modified it a lot.

The major change came when we were sitting on a beach. Our house was for sale due to a move out of state, and instead of buying another house we said, "Let's start the full-time RV lifestyle 17 years early!"

So, we took all our past ideas and plan, and we moved quickly. Within a few months, we had the RV purchased, the RV placed in an RV park, and jobs settled. By our 19th wedding anniversary, we were in our home on wheels!

Did all our years of planning work? Did we choose the right RV? Did we have all the financial planning and logistics of being on the road taken care of?

Because of our 35,000 miles on the road before an RV purchase, we pretty much had done it right. Life went forward smoothly except for the financial downturn in 2008, but we weathered that.

Hopefully, our years of experience can save you some time in your full-time RV planning. We will share some thoughts on ways you can be prepared so you can make the right choices. We will have to break this up into three articles because of all the things there are to consider.

Rent before you buy

I can't stress this one enough! If you have never owned an RV, renting one is the best way to learn a lot of things about them. Simply buying one based on limited experience, putting all your stuff in it and then hitting the road can be costly.

For example, friends told us of a couple who found a used RV they thought would be perfect for full-timing. They visited with the owner, sat in it, took it for a drive, went home and thought about it for a day, then came back and bought it.

Their plan had come together quickly and in the excitement of buying their first RV — with no previous experience — they jumped at what they thought was a good deal and just what they wanted. So, they drove the RV home, parked it in the driveway and set out to load their belongings aboard.

That's when the first of many problems started to show up.

Mrs. New RVer could not fit her dishes in the kitchen cabinet. OK, no big deal, get new dishes. Then, they sat down to enjoy their first meal in the RV and discovered their knees knocked while trying to sit at the dinette. They also discovered their kitchen did not allow much room to prepare a meal — something they had not considered. No big deal, sit at an angle at the table and use the dinette table for extra cooking preparation space.

Mr. and Mrs. New RVer hit the road for their first journey, and more problems struck. The RV blew two tires during their journey. They were old and should have been replaced before they hit the road — no one had told them that. Mr. RVer also crunched a back rear corner of the RV while navigating an RV park because he had never been taught how to properly handle his new home on wheels.

Not long after this, Mr. and Mrs. New RVer went to a dealership armed with a better idea of what they wanted. They traded out their RV for something more suited to the lifestyle they had hoped for.

The moral of the story is this: Had they done more research and known what they wanted, they would have bought right the first time. It did cost Mr. and Mrs. New RVer a fair bit of cash for that mistake. But, from what we hear, they are now happy.

Pam and I rented from local RV dealerships that had nicer RVs. We never did a Cruise America rental as those are lower-end units and tend to be abused. That would not give a good representation of what you might buy. If you can find a unit that has just come on the rental program, it would be a good first trip. After that seek higher-end units.

So, please rent some RVs and learn all you can about them. Try a Class A gas-powered RV, a Class A diesel-powered RV, A Class C RV and a towable unit if you can.

It is not cheap, but you will save yourself in the long run.

In the second part, we will look at things to consider when adjusting to full-time RV living.